


Playing Hooky

by starbitz



Series: mental health awareness week [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Skipping Class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-22 07:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbitz/pseuds/starbitz
Summary: Jisung is struggling with adjusting to a new high school.





	Playing Hooky

Jisung ran down the empty hallway to the stairwell leading to the roof, the sound of his feet pounding on the tile echoing loudly off the lockers. His feet hit the ground hard as he sprinted up the stairs, skipping steps as he went. Once he was at the top, he hurled the doors to the roof open with both hands, breathing hard to catch his breath, tears pricking at his eyes. The sound of the door shutting loudly behind him rang through his ears as he slowed his pace. 

He squeezed his hands into fists as he approached the edge, peering over it. Everything looked so dull and  _ dead _ . He just wanted to see the sunshine and his friends back home again. And on top of that, everything else that was happening in his life was just so fucking  _ frustrating _ . All he wanted to do was stand there and scream, but he knew he couldn’t so he just sat down with his feet dangling over the ledge. No one was around to tell him that it was dangerous. It’s not like that would stop him. 

It was windy and overcast outside, just as it had been for the past 2 weeks, and it was starting to get old. The view from the roof was usually the best he could find around here, but right now, there was barely enough sun to make anything look nice. Everyone was on their lunch break right now and would be going back to class soon, but there was a very low chance that he would be moving from this spot for the rest of the day. 

He moved away from all of his friends last year, which left him feeling completely alone, even though he had come to know quite a few people through the dance club at this school. But he was well into the second month of school and he was still without friends since everyone basically had their own groups already. He just felt completely  _ alone _ . 

He hated that he wanted to cry. He hated that his parents decided to move while he was still in high school and he hated that all of his friends were still together back at his old high school without him, even though it was really, in no way, their fault. He was just bitter and frustrated, and the tears just started to fall from his eyes. He was exhausted. 

“Are you okay?” a voice said. Jisung startled violently, whipping around to see who the owner of the voice was. He had no idea there was someone else up here. When Jisung’s eyes found the person, who was standing a distance behind him, he looked remorseful. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Jisung quickly wiped under his eyes with his sleeve and turned away from the person. “I’m fine.”

Jisung was pretty sure that this guy didn’t believe him when he said that he was okay, but he didn’t really care. There was a long stretch of silence following Jisung’s words, so he almost thought that he was gone until he heard a sigh. Jisung turned around again as he spoke. “Can I sit?”

Jisung looked at him quizzically. He would prefer to be left alone now, but if he said no, he would feel bad, and it would probably be really awkward. “Sure,” he said reluctantly.

The boy sat down next to him, leaving a fair amount of space between their legs. He turned to Jisung the same time he turned to look at him. “I’m Chenle,” he said simply. Jisung felt like he had seen this kid before. Were they in the same year, maybe?

“I’m Jisung,” he said. “Have we met before? You look kind of familiar.”

“You’re on the dance team, right?” Chenle asked. Jisung nodded. “I’m in the choir, maybe you saw me in the performing arts hallway down by the dance room?”

Jisung looked away as he heard the bell to end lunch go off. He guessed Chenle was skipping too. “It was probably that, then,” he said. “How did you know I was on the dance team?”

Chenle snickered to himself. “I’ve always been kind of interested in dance so I watch from the window sometimes.”

That drew a little smile from Jisung. He sniffled and wiped the remaining residue of tears from under his eyes. “What’s stopping you?”

Chenle scoffed. “I have no idea how to dance.”

“If you know how to move your body to music, you know how to dance,” Jisung said. “If you wanted to try out for the dance team, we could teach you how.”

“I’ll think about it,” Chenle said with a grin.

Jisung didn’t really know what else to say after that, so the two of them fell silent. It was still unbearably dull outside. 

“Hey, are you sure you’re fine?” Chenle asked, breaking the silence. “You don’t have to tell me. But you don’t have to hold it in, either.”

“I don’t like it here,” Jisung muttered after a second, sinking into himself a little. He hugged one of his knees to his chest, trying to swallow the lump in his throat that didn’t want to go away. “I miss my friends back home. It’s so  _ lonely _ .”

“When did you move here?” 

“Middle of last school year,” Jisung said. 

When Chenle didn’t say anything else, Jisung just sighed. He honestly doesn’t know why he still called where he used to live “home” because, obviously, he didn’t live there anymore. If he were to go back, he would be happy to be with his friends again but he knew it would feel different. They went a whole year without him in school, so things obviously would have changed. It was just that this new school and the new place he lived didn’t feel like home either. He just wanted to feel like he belonged somewhere. He felt like he had been forcibly displaced and he wanted to stop feeling like he was all alone even with everyone around him. 

The lump in his throat was starting to burn with the strength he was using to hold back his tears. He really didn’t want to cry again. He was stronger than this. He took another deep breath and inwardly cringed at how shaky his breathing was. Chenle turned his head to look at him in the corner of his eye. 

“Jisung,” Chenle prompted. Jisung pulled his sleeve-covered hands to his eyes to dry the tears that were threatening to spill out and turned to face him at the sound of his name. “I know that I just met you and all, but this is your home now, right? You’ve been here for a while and your friends back where you used to live will always be your friends, so why not try to make some more? I’m not meaning to sound like a jerk by saying all this, and I know I might be overstepping my boundaries by trying to give you advice, but, I’m pretty sure your teammates consider you their friend. They’d probably be upset if you didn’t think the same way.”

A tear fell from Jisung’s eye and he wiped at it frantically. He swallowed thickly as he took in Chenle’s words. 

“Plus,” Chenle continued. “I’ll be your friend too if that’s what you want.”

Jisung managed a smile as he gave up on suppressing his tears, letting them silently fall. It was good that he heard that from someone else because he felt like that was exactly what he needed to get some sense knocked into him. The world and his parents were not trying to make his life difficult by making him move here, that was just how things had to be and he had to accept that. He was still a little bitter about everything and he still missed his friends a lot back home, but he thought that now, he would eventually be able to find the strength to move on. 

Chenle was right. As of now, the guys on his dance team were the only ones at the school that he looked forward to seeing. They were his friends and they were fun to be around. 

Jisung was pulled back from his thoughts when he felt Chenle’s hand gently touch his back. He hadn’t noticed Chenle move closer to him. “It’ll be okay, Jisung. Give yourself time. It’s different for everyone when it comes to adjusting to new schools.”

“I’m sorry you had to see me have a breakdown, this never usually happens,” Jisung said, taking a deep breath to try to calm himself down. “But thanks for talking to me. I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“It’s no problem,” Chenle smiled. His hand moved back to his side. “But what offer?”

“Being my friend,” Jisung said, finally looking Chenle in the eye. He smiled too. “And maybe I could teach you how to dance.”

Chenle’s smile grew. “I’m looking forward to it.”

**Author's Note:**

> hello again! i hope that you're having a good week and giving yourself a break as you need. be kind to yourself today! maybe try and take a walk outside if it's nice, call a friend, or go play with a pet (if you have one)! always make sure you're drinking water.  
again, my twitter is [@NEOZ127](https://twitter.com/NEOZ127). dm me or tweet at me as you wish! i would love to talk to some of you! stay strong, you have more strength than you know <3


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